For a brief moment, Astros outfielders Michael Bourn and Hunter Pence were caught in the twilight zone. And in that moment was the game-changing play that proved costly for the Astros

The Cincinnati Reds exploded for a four-run fourth inning, fueled in large part by a dropped fly ball that opened the door for the Reds to take a 6-4 win over the Astros before 21,035 on Wednesday at Minute Maid Park. The Astros (8-12) trailed by just a pair to start the fourth when starter Felipe Paulino (0-3) walked Drew Stubbs to load the bases with two outs. Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips then belted a Paulino pitch to right and that’s when the trouble began. Bourn ran towards it from his center field spot but lost it in the sky. Pence, who was also charging towards it from right field, also lost it briefly before finding it and getting a glove on it, but not well enough to make the catch. Three runs scored, giving the Reds a 5-0 lead. Then Scott Rolen followed with an RBI double to extend the lead to 6-0. “It’s a play that has to be made,” said Pence, who was charged with an error. “Here when the twilight hours are going on, the balls disappear. You’ve just got to keep going with it and try to find it. I lost it and then found it late and wasn’t able to recover as good as I needed to and like I said, I’ve got to make that play.” Though Pence took responsibility, Bourn said he felt it was hard to point the blame at anybody. “We both couldn’t see it,” Bourn said. “There’s nothing you can do about that part of the game. The only thing is you can hope for is that the roof is closed. But when it’s open and the twilight hits, it’s always around the fourth or fifth inning. “You just hope that the situation doesn’t come up and it came up tonight. It cost us the game, basically. They got four runs off of that ball. It wasn’t Hunter’s fault and I’m not going to say it was my fault either. It was just a situation where you can’t see the ball.” That made things tough on Paulino, who exited after five innings. Paulino allowed six hits, walked four and struck out four, but was only charged with two earned runs — both of which came in the first three innings. Those runs proved to be plenty for Reds rookie pitcher Mike Leake (2-0). The 22-year-old righthander, who was making his fourth major league start, was impressive, allowing just one run on five hits, walking one and striking out five in seven innings of work. The Astros garnered only one hit in the first four innings off of Leake. The Reds (10-11) have now won three straight. The Astros’ first good opportunity to cut into the lead came in the fifth. Catcher Humberto Quintero drove in their first run with an RBI groundout, but Bourn (0-for-5, four strikeouts), struck out to end the inning, leaving the bases loaded. They attempted to rally in the ninth, fueled by Lance Berkman’s two-run opposite-field home run off Reds reliever Nick Masset. The homer was Berkman’s 315th of his career, moving him past Reggie Smith on the all-time home-run list for switch hitters. Berkman now ranks fifth in that category. Pence followed two batters later with a single, Kaz Matsui walked and Geoff Blum singled Pence in to cut the Reds’ lead to two and get the tying run on base. Reds closer Francisco Cordero struck out J.R. Towles and retired Bourn to shut the door. Blum’s RBI single extended his team-best hitting streak to nine games. Astros manager Brad Mills was encouraged by the Astros’ fight in the late innings. They’ve dropped two straight after going on an 8-2 run that ended on Sunday. “I think they kept having good at-bats and that’s what we need to do,” Mills said. “Not just in a situation where we’re down like that but have good at-bats through the entire game. It was good to see them continue that there in the end.”